Gutters for channeling rain water can often become clogged and obstructed by debris carried with the flow of rain water as it washes from building surfaces. Once clogged, the ability of the gutter to efficiently channel the flow will be compromised, or it may simply fill up with water and overflow.
Because guttering is typically mounted near the roof and/or upper regions of the building it can be difficult and unsafe to access the channel in order to clean it. The geometry of the channel can make it difficult, messy and time consuming to clean.
Placing a mesh or cover over the open top of the channel is not always effective in keeping out debris, and can make cleaning even more difficult in the event that clogging does occur. Covering the gutter may also encourage vermin and birds to nest inside the channel, thus causing further obstruction to the water flow.
Providing covering for the gutter channel and other guttering components increases the complexity of installing gutter systems and increases the number of components required. In particular additional support bracketing is often required to secure the covering components relative to the channel because the covers are susceptible to damage in heavy weather condition conditions (e.g. snow, high winds etc).
Some buildings have ample available space on the fascia and/or beneath the eaves of the roof for mounting guttering, and some have little available space. Some buildings have insufficient space to mount both a gutter channel and to cover extend over the channel. The present invention therefore recognises an advantage in providing a gutter that can be conveniently installed on a variety of buildings, even some of those which have lesser space available for mounting the gutter arrangement.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gutter channel which overcomes or at least in part ameliorates some of the abovementioned disadvantages or which at least provides the public with a useful choice.
It is an additional or alternative object of the present invention to provide a guttering system which overcomes or at least in part ameliorates some of the abovementioned disadvantages or which at least provides the public with a useful choice.
In this specification, where reference has been made to external sources of information, including patent specifications and other documents, this is generally for the purpose of providing a context for discussing the features of the present invention. Unless stated otherwise, reference to such sources of information is not to be construed, in any jurisdiction, as an admission that such sources of information are prior art or form part of the common general knowledge in the art.